Lawmakers restore ballot access bill for third parties

Secretary of State of South Dakota Shantel Krebs listens to Governor Dennis Daugaard during the annual budget address Tuesday, Dec. 5, at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre. (Photo: Briana Sanchez / Argus Leader)Buy Photo

The legislation was the product of settlement talks in a lawsuit filed against Secretary of State Shantel Krebs in 2015 by the Libertarian and Constitution parties.

Judge Lawrence Piersol ruled against the state last month and said that passage of House Bill 1286 would remedy the constitutional problems, but the House of Representatives rewrote the bill, gutting the provision on convention nominations.

Senators received an email from the Libertarian Party chair saying their changes could force them back into court, and party activists decried the revamp as punishment for the lawsuit.

The Senate further amended the bill, but those minor fixes didn’t satisfy the parties or their lawyer.

In Thursday’s conference committee, three House and three Senate members met to discuss the bill. They passed an amendment that restored the original language and added a new section requiring petitions for a new political party to carry a party name and statement of principles.

Deputy Secretary of State Tom Deadrick told the committee that his office had no position on the bill, but that it would “take care of all of (the judge’s) concerns.”

The House approved the bill 59-5 Thursday afternoon. And later Thursday the Senate unanimously approved the bill.

Rep. Steven Haugaard, R-Sioux Falls, told the House that the governor's office had also recommended a return to the original language. The additional wording on a party's principles and name were enough to satisfy concerns that the bill would allow anyone to form a party.

Haugaard said he expects additional discussions about minimum party size to appear again, but that 1286 is a good start.

“I would expect we’d be back here visiting this as soon as we’re back in session next year,” he said.